[18:1] Weizi left him; Jizi was enslaved by him; Bi Gan admonished him, and died for it. Confucius said, “There were three Good Men in the Yin. ”

[18-2] 柳下惠爲士師、三黜。人曰。子未可以去乎。曰。直道而事人、焉往而不三黜 枉道而事人、何必去父母之邦 。

[18:2] Hui Liuxia was chief criminal judge, and was fired three times.

Someone said, “Why don't you just leave, sir?”

He said, “If I want to give justice in serving people, where can I go where this will not happen? If I can be satisfied with handing out injustice, why should I bother leaving the land of my parents?”

[18-3] 齊景公待孔子、曰。若季氏則吾不能、以季、孟之間待之。曰。吾老矣。不能用也。孔子行。

[18:3] Duke Jing of Qi was trying to decide what to do with Confucius. He said, “I can't treat him the way the Ji family did. I can employ him somewhere between the status of Ji or Meng(Sun).” He said again, “I am already old. I can't use him.” Confucius left.

[18-4] 齊人歸女樂、季桓子受之、三日不朝、孔子行。

[18:4] The people of Qi sent Lu a present of girl musicians. Ji Huan (ruler of Lu) received them, and for three days did not hold court. Confucius left.

[18:6] Zhang Zuo and Jie Ni were working together in the fields when Confucius was passing by. He sent Zi Lu to ask them where he could ford the river. Zhang Zuo said, “Who is that holding the carriage?”

Zi Lu said, “It is Confucius”

Zhang said, “The Confucius of Lu?”

“Yes.”

“Well, if that's the case, then he knows the ford.”

Zi Lu then asked Jie Ni who said, “Who are you?”

“I am Zi Lu.”

“The follower of this Confucius of Lu?”

“Right.”

Jie said, “Disorder, disorder throughout the realm! And who can change it? Rather than following a shi who avoids people, you should follow one who escapes from the world!” With that, he went back to his hoeing and wouldn't stop.

Zi Lu went back and reported this to Confucius. Confucius sighing, said, “I can't form associations with the birds and beasts. So if I don't associate with people, then who will I associate with? If the Way prevailed in the realm, I would not try to change anything.”

[18:7] Zi Lu, having fallen behind the group, met an old man carrying a basket on a pole. He asked him: “Have you seen my master?”

The old man said, “Your four limbs have not toiled, and you can't distinguish among the five grains— who is your master?” He planted his staff in the ground and began to weed. Zi Lu stood there with his arms folded. The old man had him stay overnight. He killed a chicken, prepared millet and fed him, and then introduced him to his two sons. The next day, Zi Lu left, and he told Confucius.

The Master said, “He is a recluse,” and sent Zi Lu back to see him. When he arrived, the man was gone.

Zi Lu said, “If you don't have a position in society, how can you practice fairness? If the relationship between young and old cannot be abandoned, how can the relationship between ruler and minister be abandoned? Desiring to keep his own purity, he disrupts the great bonds of society. The noble man practices his fairness from his place in society. When fairness is not being done, he is the one who is aware of it.”

[18:8] Among men who have abandoned society are Bo Yi, Shu Qi, Yu Zhong,Yiyi, Zhu Zhang, Hui Liu Xia, and Shao Lian. The Master said, “Those who would not surrender their wills or humiliate themselves were Bo Yi and Shu Qi.” Regarding Liuxia Hui and Shao Lian, he said, “They surrendered their wills and humiliated themselves; nonetheless, their words were based on solid principles and they thought before acting. That is about all that can be said of them.” Concerning Yu Zhong and Yi Yi: “They left society, and in their seclusion cast off speech, they were pure in their personal activities, and their abandonment of official position was adjusted according to the circumstances.” I am different than this. I have no “shoulds” or “should nots”.

[18-9] 大師摯適齊。亞飯干適楚。三飯繚適蔡。四飯缺適秦。鼓方叔、入於河。播鼗武、入於漢。少師陽、擊磬襄、入於海。

[18:10] The head musician Zhi, went to Qi; Gan, the musician for the second meal, went to Chu; Liao, the musician for the third meal, went to Cai; Que, the musician for the fourth meal, went to Qin; the drummer Fang Shu, went to the area of the Yellow River; Wu, the player of the spinning hand-drum, when to the Han River; Yang, the assistant musician, and Xiang, the player of the stone chimes, went to the sea.

[18-10] 周公謂魯公曰。君子不施其親、不使大臣怨乎不以。故舊無大故、則不棄也。無求備於一人。

[18:10] The Duke of Zhou was talking to his son, the Duke of Lu. He said: “The noble man does not neglect his relatives and does not let the High Minister develop resentment about not being utilized. Therefore, he has never fired anyone unless there was a really good reason, and he does not seek to squeeze everything out of one man.”